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Messages - jcongerkallas1
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1
Pixel Art / Re: [WIP] Need Help on Art
« on: May 09, 2017, 06:48:50 pm »
Try flipping the image horizontally.  That sometimes makes errors easier to spot.

The legs and shoulders are parallel to the ground, but if you are trying to make the character in perspective, the hips and shoulders should be angled slightly.  The far leg will appear shorter than the other.

Draw a horizon line to the right of the character, then draw straight lines from that point to intersect the shoulders, hips, hands, and feet.  You might also want to try imagining a bisecting vertical contour line down the planar faces of the character's head and torso.

2
Does anyone have any recommendations for where to look for playable pixel art games? 

It seems like there used to be a ton of websites that hosted free-to-play flash games back in the 1990's and 2000's.  Those kinds of sites are becoming a lot harder to find now that app stores and Steam have become the primary platforms for indie distribution. 

I know about a few websites like Kongregate, GOG, and NewGrounds.  Unfortunately there's a lot of mobile content and shovelware to sift through with those.  Pixel Joint, Pixelation, and Retro Gamer have extensive resources, but there's not many examples of actual gameplay footage to look at for inspiration and animation references.

Are there any obscure websites that have an archive of just pixel art games?  Surely there must be a stash hidden away somewhere on the internet.

3
Portfolios / Re: [PORTFOLIO] Pixel artist for hire
« on: March 02, 2017, 08:15:10 pm »
Another former client here. Daniel is a skilled sprite artist and animator.  He works hard to create realistic motion in just a few key frames.  I'm happy to have had the chance to collaborate with him.

4
Pixel Art / Re: [C+C] Cyberpunkish character
« on: March 01, 2017, 04:58:04 pm »

It might help to picture the head as a low-poly 3D model divided into planar facets.  Different planes will have different tones, highlights, and shadows based on the direction of the light source.

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Pixel Art / Re: What is an ideal height for more-detailed sprites?
« on: February 24, 2017, 07:44:39 pm »
I created the sprites by scaling down some unused digital painting character concepts that were on my computer.  I then attempted to create a pixelated layer over the blurry image template.  Needless to say that wasn't the best method for producing clean edges or colors. 

I didn't know there was a pixel resize tool.

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General Discussion / Re: Any Tips for Starting a Team Project?
« on: February 24, 2017, 06:24:44 pm »
Thanks guys for taking the time to answer again. 

I’ve encountered pretty much everything mentioned above as a contributing factor in failed projects, but the thing that I’ve noticed always seems to backfire worst for projects is communication.  Everyone I’ve worked with so far has put a lot of effort into organization, planning, and even social media and crowdfunding campaigns, but they weren’t able to communicate well with team members. 

It seems like a lot of people who do succeed in completing large projects have these close friendships where everyone has eachother's backs, or they all are interested in contributing to making the best product possible.  That’s just something I seem to have missed out on so far.  If there’s not a lot of engagement or fun in a collaboration, it just feels like forced work.

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General Discussion / Any Tips for Starting a Team Project?
« on: February 24, 2017, 04:53:12 am »
I've attempted to join several collaboration projects over the past few years, and each one has failed dismally.  Usually things fall apart after a few months due to busy schedules, overly ambitious goals, or lack of funding.

I know that a lot of other independent developers and artists go through similar experiences of having interesting concepts that are never fully realized.

Are there any special conditions or factors that increase the likelihood of having a positive team experience?

It just seems kind of impossible to stay optimistic when you can't afford to hire anyone and past baggage makes it hard to be motivated about jumping back into another cycle of disappointment and long work hours.

8
Pixel Art / Re: What is an ideal height for more-detailed sprites?
« on: February 22, 2017, 10:47:11 pm »

Here's a new scale comparison for imp designs.

 

These are the rough human character mock-ups I made.  They are supposed to be relatively proportional to the smallest and largest imp designs.

Enlarging the head seems to be the best compromise for getting more detail without having to drastically increase the size and complexity of the character model.  I looked at some chibi and portrait references, and it would appear that using the eyes as reference points makes it easier to build things up from there.  I'd previously been trying the subtractive method of scaling everything relative to an arbitrary estimated height, which works for regular drawing but apparently it's not the recommended approach for creating pixel art.

I’ll keep playing around with the style and study more game art.  Maybe one day I'll figure out how sprite shading and proportions work.  I appreciate all the tips from everyone.


9
Pixel Art / Re: What is an ideal height for more-detailed sprites?
« on: February 22, 2017, 02:18:45 pm »
Thanks.  These are some very useful tips.

I evidently need to work on cleaning up details and reducing my color palettes. When I scaled down my original png image in GIMP, there was a lot of extra noise caused by bad anti-aliasing. 

The imp was supposed to be slightly above knee height.  Based on my pixel tests and everyone’s feedback, I guess if 32 px is estimated to be an acceptable height, a mid-detail human character should be roughly three times as tall.  So 96 px.

I have been experimenting with two sample human characters to test different scales.   One is 52 px tall.  The other is 140 px tall and has barely enough resolution to allow for a generic face with mouth, eyes, nose, and eyebrows.  Unfortunately, I would still need a much higher resolution to get any kind of nuanced facial expression.

The style I’m currently aiming for would be some kind of side-scrolling RPG or narrative adventure game.

I don’t think it would be feasible for me to attempt producing an entire game at the higher level of detail. I guess what I will have to do is settle for middle-resolution sprites.  If I want more detailed faces for close ups or dialogue, I could maybe try adding character portraits.

10
Pixel Art / Re: What is an ideal height for more-detailed sprites?
« on: February 21, 2017, 10:35:29 pm »


I conducted some more research and tried experimenting with lower-resolution sprites.  Here's a new mini-imp.  I guess he turned out alright, despite losing all his back spots.

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